Once he came
by Alena S. Anigor
Summary: Would things be different if Ranma hadn't showed up on that fateful day? Maybe Akane can find an answer to that question. Reviews are welcome.


**AN:**

**Err...I decided to write a Ranma/Akane one-shot fic, so...there. I had to take 'Tomboy issues' down for some serious reconstruction, because I realized that some people were right about it. I wasn't quite satisfied with it, either, and that's why I removed the story. Maybe I'll upload it again, maybe I won't. I'll see...**

**Disclaimer: Ranma ½ doesn't belong to me, Rumiko Takahashi is the brilliant owner of it all...**

**Hope you'll like the story. Here we go...**

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**Once he came**

-by Alena S. Anigor

Akane Tendou stretched lazily in her bed, trying to stay awake, although the thought of the warm bed was more appealing than getting up. But, the school was important to her, as well as her education. After all, she was one of the brightest in her class, and further. And she just couldn't imagine herself in a couple of years, still living in Nerima, and still living with her father, two sisters, an old pervert, a grumpy man/panda named Genma Saotome, and his equally annoying son/daughter named Ranma Saotome. Other perverts and lunatics around her included.

Akane shook her head, trying to get that picture out of her mind. No, _that_ will _not_ happen, ever! 

She snatched her school uniform from her closet, and decided to get dressed. She finished her homework yesterday, and her school bag was waiting for her, neatly laying on her desk. She liked to keep things in order, and she didn't like when things didn't go according to her plans. She also didn't like when someone _else_ messed up with her things or with her plans. And that someone else was currently trying to sneak trough her window, and possibly steal her underwear.

Akane's brows twitched in anger, glaring at a certain old pervert, she was thinking of just minutes ago, trying to take a peak in one of her drawers. He had his notorious mask on, and was currently digging trough her drawer. His eyes suddenly started shining, which meant he found what he was looking for. A pink, silky material was in his hands, and he stared at it, wide-eyed, suppressing a sudden urge to caress it. That scene made Akane's blood boil, anger rising inside of her, and she yelled in anger, raising her leg to kick him, but he managed to dodge it, and jump aside.

"Oh, sweet Akane, I haven't noticed you here!" He greeted her politely, and she wondered how could he act like a perfect gentleman, when he was holding a piece of her underwear in his hands. Not to mention a loaded sack on his back, probably full with women's panties and bras. No doubt, he was on one of his heists.

Akane groaned, clenching her fists, and sending death glares into his direction. Happosai was still looking at her innocently, and that was the most infuriating thing.

"Get out of my room!" She screamed, grabbing her schoolbag, and swinging it at him. He dodged the bag effortlessly, and with an amused smile, dashed out of her room, just when Kasumi was about to open the door to her room, and ask her to come down for breakfast. He stormed by a very surprised Kasumi, and vanished down the hall.

Akane was breathing rapidly, trying to calm her temper, and still glaring at her open drawer.

Kasumi simply smiled, announcing finally that the breakfast was ready, and that she should hurry, if she wanted to reach school in time. Akane mumbled something incoherent, storming out of her room, her fists still clenched.

"That old lecher!" She was muttering, walking down the stairs angrily, her feet banging against the wooden floor. Kasumi followed behind, with her trademark smile on her lips.

Her father, and Nabiki were already downstairs, eating peacefully at the table, while Ranma and his father were in their usual fight, trying to grab a rice ball from each other's bowls.

Akane sat at the table, still frowning, and grabbed her bowl. Nabiki didn't pay much attention to her, she was absorbed in her own little plans involving money...lots of money.

Her father coughed, eyeing his old friend and his son disapprovingly, and they calmed down, and continued on eating like nothing happened.

Ranma raised his eyes to look at his fiancé, and noticed her grim expression. She was eating her breakfast in silence, but he could practically feel her anger and fury, oozing out of her.

He wanted to say something, but decided to keep his mouth shut. If she'd mallet him, his breakfast would be ruined, and he was hungry, after all.

Akane had to sprint to school, trying her best to make it on time. She turned her head briefly to look at her fiancé, nonchalantly running after her on the fence, keeping a perfect pace with her. She didn't want to say that to him, but she was sometimes slightly jealous of him, and of his abilities to walk and even run on the fence without falling down. He never even lost his balance, well, except the times when Shampoo would appear and almost kill him with that bike of hers. She turned her head back to look forward, slightly frowning, remembering every time when she glomped him and tried to kiss him. Her face darkened almost unconsciously, and she reminded herself that she didn't care. That's right, she didn't care.

Ranma hopped down from the fence and now he was running again, slightly ahead of her. She frowned, and yelled at him to slow down a bit.

He turned around and grinned at her.

"Too bad you're not as fast as I am, you slowpoke!" He joked, but that wasn't quite funny to Akane, and she growled, taking that as an offence. 

"You jerk!" She yelled, speeding up a bit. "Of course I'm not as fast as you are!" She added, feeling exasperated and slightly out of breath. She stopped, taking a moment to rest, breathing rapidly, holding her chest. Ranma stopped running, turning around to see her standing in the middle of the street, gasping for air. He suddenly felt sorry for her, and started walking towards her.

"Want me to carry you?" he asked the first question that came to his mind. She looked at him, staring at him, somewhat surprised that he asked her something like that. Him, carrying her? 

He leaned down a bit, and she backed away from him, a faint blush spreading over her cheeks.

"I mean, it's obvious that your thick thighs can't handle this", he added, and managed to ruin the moment completely. That faint blush on her cheeks turned into a sign of anger, and he gulped, realizing that he managed to do it again. He wanted to say something completely different, but somehow, he ended up insulting her again.

Akane growled, and swung her school bag at him.

"You jerk! You idiot! You pervert!" Words were coming out of her mouth after every swing, and he managed to jump away every time, leaving her frustrated with the proof that she couldn't even hit him with anything. 

'Except with your mallet.' A thought crossed her mind, and she let the mallet materialize, swinging sharply with it, and the next thing Ranma knew, was that he was watching everything from a bird perspective.

"Great, just great!" He muttered, flying trough the air, and landing on a roof of some old house. It cracked a bit, and Ranma quickly jumped away, afraid of landing _trough_ that same roof.

He hopped across a couple of them more, until he found that familiar street, and noticed her running again towards school. This time, he decided to stay behind her, not wanting to risk another bump on his head.

'As if the fate is playing some cruel joke on me...' Akane thought, when she stopped in front of the school gate. Of course they were late! And of course they had to hold buckets of water in front of the classroom, him sending her a glare, and her totally ignoring him. Until he opened his mouth to speak, that is, commenting how he couldn't believe that he was being engaged to a stupid macho chick. That comment made her loose her cool, she was holding till now, and that comment made him earn a splash of cold water in his face...

Akane turned her head away from a redhead, fuming silently, wishing she had more water in her bucket to soak him trough and trough. 

As if on cue, Kuno appeared out of nowhere, holding his boken sword, and spotting his _pigtailed goddess_, started running towards a very wide-eyed Ranma-chan. She shrieked, throwing the bucket across the hall, which found a way to land on Kuno's head. It clanged a bit, but that didn't stop him from singing his words of admiration for her, and running after her, with a bucket, still on his head.

"Get away from me!" Ranma-chan's voice was heard from far away, as Kuno continued on with his glorious remarks, looking like a bewildered samurai with the bucket, swaying on his head.

Akane could only stare after them, not comprehending how she managed to stay sane after seeing so much.

Walking home silently, and alone, she looked almost solemn, wondering where did he, or rather, where did she end up in the end.

'Probably beating Kuno senseless', she thought, and smiled bitterly. 

"Hey Akane!" A voice behind her shook her from her trail of thoughts, and she turned around, spotting a certain pigtailed boy, running towards her.

"Ranma", she uttered, "where have you been? And how come you aren't a girl anymore?"

He stopped when he reached her, and then smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head with his hand.

"Had some trouble ditching Kuno." He replied, and grinned. Then his face darkened. "And now I owe Nabiki even more money than before, but I just had to get that hot water..." He cringed at the thought of Nabiki smiling at him, holding a so much wanted bucket of warm water. 

Akane smiled a bit, forgetting his insults, and silently forgiving him for saying them. At least, he was acting normal now. She continued walking, sunset reflecting in her bright eyes, and making them shine. He stared at her for a moment, before she caught him staring at her, and he quickly turned his head away, observing the passing clouds like they were the most incredible things in the whole world. She also noticed a slight blush on his face, and smiled contently, wishing there were more moments like those between them.

Surprisingly enough, Shampoo didn't show up today, trying to leer him into dating her, nor Ryouga showed up, demanding to fight him. As if they agreed that this single day, they're going to leave them in peace. Well, there was Happosai, still probably making plans how to snatch another set of underwear this night, but she didn't mind. As long as the things were like they were now.

They walked home in comfortable silence, each lost in their own thoughts about the other. 

"We're home!" Akane announced when she entered the house. Kasumi greeted them both, holding a bowl in her hands, making dinner. Soun and Genma were lost in their own game of shogi, Genma trying to divert him with words that a spider is crawling across his shoulder, just to switch a board, or two.

She hurried up the stairs, wanting nothing more to change into something more comfortable and enjoy her dinner in peace. 

'Just like before.' She thought, and then stopped, a sudden realization dawning on her. It was just like before, until...

"Ranma came."

That sentence seemed to shift something inside her, it seemed to shatter something, and she sat down on her bed, staring at the floor, holding her school uniform tightly in her hands.

She looked at those same hands, staring at them, that sentence echoing in her mind, over and over again.

'It was fine, until he came. Everything was normal... There were no fights, no house wrecking, no life threatening situations, no tears, no anger, no...'

"Ranma." She finished, ending her ramblings out loud.

"Akane, dinner is ready!" She heard Kasumi calling her, and she quickly hung her uniform back in her closet, and headed downstairs. 

She sat at the table, still a bit shaken with her sudden realizations, but then she looked at him, and he was looking at her, grinning, and she bit her lip, suddenly feeling guilty for accusing him for something that wasn't even his fault. He was just a marionette in their father's deal, just like her, and she couldn't blame him for their mistakes.

Surely, it was a mistake – deciding instead of you who to marry, who to live with, who to love...

He looked at her, seeing that there was something wrong with her. Her brows were furrowed, but not in anger, they were furrowed in confusion. He wondered for a brief moment what was she thinking about, before he stopped his father from snatching his ramen on time.

"Akane, you seem quiet this evening." Kasumi noticed, and gently spoke to her youngest sister. Akane raised her head to look at the oldest Tendou daughter, and smiled, shaking her head.

"It's nothing, I'm just tired." She replied, still smiling, and swallowed a bite, together with a lump in her throat. Nabiki raised one eyebrow, noticing, too, that there was something bothering her, but she left it as it was, concentrating on her calculations. The roof still had some holes in it that needed to be fixed.

Combing her short hair and sitting on the chair, Akane was gazing out the window, praying silently, and hoping that Happosai was miles away. It didn't matter if he was stealing panties, as long as those weren't her panties.

A rustling sound came from above, and after a few seconds, a head popped up out her window, hanging upside-down, and grinning.

She blinked a couple of times, but relaxed soon after.

"Hey, Akane", he said, smiling brightly, "whatcha doing?"

She giggled, noticing the way his bangs were hanging from his forehead, and his pigtail was also hanging from the back of his head.

"What's so funny?" he asked, looking around. She shook her hand, and smiled.

"Nothing, really." She replied, and then he disappeared for a second, before flipping in the air, and landing on the window seal, inches away from her face. She put the comb down slowly, staring at him, as he did the same. A chinking sound was heard from another room, and Akane snapped back to reality, hearing Nabiki counting precious yens.

Ranma backed away a bit, too, glad that it distracted her from looking at him with those bright and warm chocolate eyes. He got lost in them, and he felt like he was falling right into them, drowning. He realized that he was falling forward for real, because he was now leaning towards her, loosing his balance, and falling flat on her desk. She was gaping at him from her chair. She managed to back away a bit, and now she was staring at a very funny looking Ranma, sitting like a cat on her desk. She almost smirked, knowing what kind of effect a word 'cat' had on him.

Ranma muttered something under his breath, cursing that damn window seal for making him fall down, almost making him fall down on _her_.

Akane couldn't suppress the laughter that escaped her lips. He was just so funny, and she couldn't resist. He sighed, resting his head in his hand, looking at her with half-closed eyes.

But something about her laughter, about her smile, managed to make him smile as well, and he shook his head. The effect that girl had on him...

"Yeah, yeah, stop laughing!" he ordered, slightly annoyed by the whole situation.

Akane stopped laughing, but that didn't last long, because she started laughing again, barely choking the words out of her mouth.

"The great Ranma Saotome can walk on the thin fence, but he can't keep his balance on the window seal!" she blurted out, giggling, and he frowned, his pride being hit, and his strength put into question.

"Well, I'm still better than a stupid macho tomboy like you are!" 

The laughter died in the room, and Ranma gulped, realizing what kind of mistake he had made. Akane was frowning in front of him, her good mood shattered in a second, and all that because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. Well, she insulted him first, anyway.

He backed away a bit, expecting a free trip to the clouds above, but then he heard her sigh, and he dared to open his eyes to look at her. The frown was still there on her face, but she seemed...peaceful enough not to hit him with something.

She lowered her eyes to her desk, and he regretted the words he said as soon as her face became solemn.

"Uhm...hey, Akane, I...um...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to...you know..." he was babbling, he knew it. But he was never good with apologies, and showing his emotions was something he was _sure_ he wasn't good in.

"Am I really that ugly, Ranma?"

The question caught him off guard, and he gaped at her, totally confused about what to say. He gulped, seeing her looking at him, eyes full of expectation, full of sadness and something else he couldn't define. He was lost again.

"N-no...you're not...that ugly..." he retorted, something that was the closest to the truth.

"Oh..." was heard from a girl across him. So, she wasn't _that _ugly, but she also wasn't anything else than that.

'Well, Akane, there's your answer to your question.' She thought bitterly, suddenly feeling so stupid and humiliated, embarrassed, and...pathetic.

Ranma noticed her expression, and mentally slapped himself when he realized that he should've said something else. Of course she wasn't ugly! She was beauti ...ful...come on you idiot, you know she is! I am such a dolt... 

"What I meant to say was...you're not ugly at all, Akane, you're..." There he stopped, battling his emotions, trying to come up with a decent word describing her. She was looking at him, eyes full of hope now, eyes full of desire to know what he really thought of her.

"You're...uh..." he tried again, cringing inside at her eyes, so full of hope. 

'Aw, damn!' he thought, why can't I say it? He sighed in defeat, lowering his head, trying desperately to say something, but her hand touched his, and sent shivers up his skin. He looked at her, surprised, and she smiled, she smiled in spite of the disappointment that was evident in her eyes, and he gulped, feeling like a bastard for not saying those words she wanted to hear so much.

"It's okay Ranma, as long as I know that I'm not ugly, I'm happy with that."  She said, smiling at him, and he wanted nothing more than to kick himself right now. She patted his hand, and leaned back in her chair, that same, almost forced smile still on her face.

He wanted to say something else, but she interrupted him before he could say anything.

"It's late, and I'm feeling a bit tired, so..." he got the picture, and moved from her desk, and back onto the window seal, grinning sheepishly, although he felt awful.

"Right, then uhm...good night, Akane." He said finally, and disappeared from the window.

'Baka, baka, baka...' words were flying trough his mind like a mantra. His father was snoring already, and he dropped to his futon, crossing his arms behind his neck. 

She was everything but ugly, she was beautiful, but why couldn't he say that? Why is that so hard to do? Why does he insult her everyday, when, in fact, he'd die for her? You don't insult people you would die for! 

He was rambling for a while, before he decided to apologize to her one more time, first thing in the morning. Yeah, he was going to do that, and maybe...just maybe, he'll tell her one more time how cute she is when she's smiling... 

She stared at the thin air for a while, before closing the window, securing it well just in case Happosai decided to stop by again, and turned her lights off.

She crawled into the bed, covering herself with the blanket, wondering for a moment where P-chan was, before she closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep.

"Well, at least I'm not ugly...", she said quietly, a thoughtful look on her face, as she snuggled deeper under the blanket, somehow satisfied with his confession. She knew that it took him a lot to even say that, so...it meant something. She smiled slightly, glad that he did show up on that rainy day, and she was glad that he was still here...

After all, when she looked at her life closely, before he came...

It was boring.

**AN:**

***Sigh* I'm done with it!**

**I hope you liked it, and I hope no one was too OOC. And I hope my grammar didn't suck much...**

**Anyway, tell me what you think.**

**Bye!**

**A.S.A**


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